Some brief thoughts about Thor: Ragnarok, which I went to see tonight.

Firstly, I really like the character Thor (the movie version, at least) but I’ve not really loved either of the two Thor movies to date. The first one was perfectly fun and well made, but it’s not a movie I’ve felt compelled to go back to. The second one has the feel of something that could have been great, but got messed up somewhere along the line. Consequently, even despite the overwhelmingly positive word of mouth, I didn’t have high expectations of the latest one. I went in expecting to have a good time and some laughs, and that’s exactly what I got.

I suspect there might have been a better, darker movie with Hela at the centre. I enjoyed all of her scenes, as well as the sense of unstoppable threat that she presented, but she was forced into second place against the rest of the story (which is fairly standard for Marvel movies and villains). That said. I certainly don’t think Cate Blanchett was wasted—and it might even be a case where she was so good that you think you want more, when actually you’ve had exactly the right amount.

I thoroughly enjoyed the interplay between Thor and Bruce Banner, and all of the new characters for that matter—in fact, I would happily watch another movie featuring them all right away. At this point, I’m reasonably certain my favourite Marvel movie to date is Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2, which explains why the tone of Thor: Ragnarok worked well for me. It’s intriguing, however, that …

… and, yep, that’s all I got. This is an object lesson in why it’s sometimes not helpful to stop a writing session in mid-sentence. I’m guessing it wasn’t all that intriguing after all …